SSL devices generally use semiconductor light emitting diodes (“LEDs”), organic light emitting diodes (“OLED”), and/or polymer light emitting diodes (“PLED”) as sources of illumination rather than electrical filaments, plasma, or gas. For example, FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional diagram of a conventional indium-gallium nitride (InGaN) LED 10. As shown in FIG. 1, the LED 10 includes a substrate material 12 (e.g., silicon), N-type gallium nitride (GaN) 14, GaN/InGaN multiple quantum wells (“MQWs”) 16, and P-type GaN 18. The LED 10 also includes a first contact 20 on the P-type GaN 18 and a second contact 22 on the N-type GaN 14. During manufacturing, the N-type GaN 14, the GaN/InGaN MQWs 16, and the P-type GaN 18 are formed on the substrate material 12 via metal organic chemical vapor deposition (“MOCVD”), molecular beam epitaxy (“MBE”), liquid phase epitaxy (“LPE”), hydride vapor phase epitaxy (“HVPE”), and/or other epitaxial growth techniques, each of which is typically performed at elevated temperatures.
One operational difficulty of forming the LED 10 is that the N-type GaN 14, the GaN/InGaN MQWs 16, and the P-type GaN 18 may be delaminated from the substrate material 12 and/or otherwise damaged during high-temperature epitaxial growth and/or cool-down thereafter. Typically, the substrate material 12 includes silicon (Si), sapphire (Al2O3), silicon carbide (SiC), and/or other “non-native” materials because “native” materials (e.g., GaN or InGaN) with usable dimensions are difficult to produce. The non-native substrate materials have different coefficients of thermal expansion (“CTEs”) than the GaN/InGaN materials 14, 16, and 18. For example, the CTE of silicon is substantially less than that of GaN, and the CTE of sapphire is substantially greater than that of GaN. Such CTE differentials induce thermal stress as the wafer cools, which warp the substrate material 12 and/or cause crystal defects in epitaxial GaN/InGaN materials 14, 16, and 18. Additionally, the non-native substrate materials that facilitate particularly good epitaxial growth, such as Si(1,1,1) silicon wafer, can be expensive. Accordingly, several improvements in reliably and cost-effectively manufacturing SSL devices may be desirable.